Arsenal: Player of the season nothing short of a shoo-in thus far

Arsenal still have two months left in the season, but it’s not too early to start talking about player of the season. But is there anything to talk about?

It’s been such an odd year for Arsenal, and not in a bad way. It’s just that it’s been so unlike any other year in recent memory. So many players have ebbed and flowed out of the consciousness of the club, relevant for weeks at a time, irrelevant for weeks at a time.

It’s all been part of the Unai Emery experimental stages. And it’s been stressful… and it’s been fun. And no matter what they want to say (they, as in the media), it’s all part of a necessary process, and not a sign of the pending implosion of the club.

Given the style of the season though, it might be difficult to decide on a player of the season when the time does come. And granted, there are still two months left, but it’s been a slow couple of weeks, so indulge me.

The hardest part is that some of the highest impact players right now, haven’t been around the entire year. Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Aaron Ramsey and Laurent Koscielny come to mind as guys who are clicking now, and monumental now, but have only been relevant for half the year, for various reasons.

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Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will definitely be a part of the conversation, more so if he wins the Golden Boot, but for as much as we all love him, his shortcomings in other areas make him a less-than-satisfactory candidate in my book. Granted I’m just one person, but I think there are a lot who agree with me.

Granit Xhaka has been around the entire year, and has been a constant presence, and I hope he at least comes into the conversation, but I don’t think many people will like that idea. And I have to throw Sokratis’s name into consideration as well, but it hasn’t been enough to dub him more important than anyone else.

No, the player of the season right now is Alexandre Lacazette, and I dare anyone to say otherwise. He doesn’t just score, like Aubameyang. He actually contributes to more goals per minute than Aubameyang and his impact is so much more than the Gabonese forward, just because it’s his style.

And most importantly, he is the key to keeping Aubameyang in his best form, so how can you give the award to Aubameyang when he is so much better with Lacazette next to him?